The plaque, funded by Japanese in Taiwan, is inscribed with words in both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese that memorialize the "unprecedented" Great East Japan Earthquake and Taiwan's aid in the aftermath.
"Now 10 years later, Japan still remember vividly the kindness Taiwan displayed back then," the inscription reads. "We therefore decided to set up this plaque in Tamsui to express our eternal gratitude to Taiwan."
The plaque was put up on Tamsui Old Street, a popular tourist area lined with eateries and shops, and a commemorative ceremony was held by a group of Japanese in Taiwan to mark the 10th anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed some 20,000 people in Japan.
Each year since 2011, a group of Japanese and Taiwanese university students in Taiwan, calling themselves Arigatou ("thank you") Taiwan, has been holding an event in commemoration of the disaster.
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, claiming nearly 20,000 lives, causing a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and resulting in losses of billions of U.S. dollars in the Japanese economy.
In the aftermath of the disaster, Taiwan's government and private sector donated a total of 25 billion yen (US$239.58 million) in relief aid and sent search and rescue teams to Japan, earning Japan's eternal gratitude.
At Sunday's ceremony, Arigatou Taiwan member Saki Sasaki said that as someone from northeastern Japan, she was extremely grateful to Taiwan for its assistance in the wake of the disaster.
The plaque on Tamsui Old Street, an area frequented by many domestic and international tourists, will help give greater visibility to the friendship between Taipei and Tokyo, she said.
Murashima Ikuyo, secretary-general of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association's (JTEA) Cultural Affairs and Public Relations Department, also spoke at the ceremony, thanking Taiwan for its assistance in the aftermath of the disaster.
The tragedy, however, had a silver lining, as it brought Taiwan and Japan closer together, and that rapport remains until now, she said.
